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The Global Intelligence News Portal
[UPDATE Jan.9 2008:
Iran Says Ship Confrontation
Video/Audio Fake]
Pentagon video: Strait of Hormuz Incident
In a four-minute, 20-second video, shot from the bridge of the destroyer USS Hopper, the small boats - including a bright blue one - can be seen racing near the wake of the U.S. ships and crossing close to each other.
From the Hopper's bridge, after spotting the approaching Iranian boats, a navy crew member says over the radio: "This is coalition warship. I am engaged in transit passage in accordance with international law. I intend no harm. Over."
Often uneven and shaky, the video condenses what U.S. navy officials have said was a 20-minute or so clash early Sunday between three navy warships and five Iranian fast boats. It ends with a blank screen, as only the audio of the navy's final warning can be heard, just after the voice warns that they are coming.
"Inbound small craft: You are approaching a coalition warship operating in international waters. Your identity is unknown; your intentions are unclear," the unidentified navy crew member says. He then cautions the Iranians that if they do no steer clear they will be "subject to defensive measures."
"Request that you alter course immediately to remain clear," the crew member says.
After a pause, the man with the accent issues a final threat: "You will explode after (indecipherable) minutes."
A navy crew member then repeated the threat as he heard it: "You will explode after a few minutes?"
President George W. Bush on Tuesday denounced the incident as a "provocative act."
"It is a dangerous situation," Bush said during a White House news conference. "They should not have done it, pure and simple. ... I don't know what their thinking was, but I'm telling you what my thinking was. I think it was a provocative act."
